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An irreverent Wall Street Blogby Bill Singer
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In Response to JoeDaBroker: Now or neverWritten: May 30, 2008

On May 29, 2008, "joedabroker" posted the following reply on Registered Rep. Magazine's General Forum (Thread: Financial Industry Association (FIA): Down and Out?)

Don't give up Bill! We need you on our side!

My reply to "joedabroker" is posted at http://rrmag.com General Forum, but I reprint it here verbatim for your consideration:
Joe:
It's not that I gave up, it's that all of you folks in the industry failed to come together and form a much-needed coalition to protect your rights and to advocate for your reasonable needs. How much more blood, sweat and tears do you all expect from me?
Bottom line. And I hope that all of you vocal posters (and the majority of you silent lurkers) read this and do something:
I resigned from FIA a year ago and long ago gave up trying to work with the other industry trade groups. For my part, after a quarter of a century on the Street, I am fed up. I read daily on this forum, on other sites, and in my email of all of your complaints and grievances, but when it comes time for you folks to get your act together, to form a meaningful trade group, to responsibly argue for your profession -- the response is stunning,numbing silence.
So, I put it to you all clearly and plainly. I have been flooded with calls not to resign from the Dissident movement. I have been urged to stay the course. Some of you have asked me to work with you in forming a new trade group. Others have asked me to reconsider my refusal to join existing groups. It's all so much blah, blah, blah. Talk is cheap, my friends!
Now is the time, perhaps the last best opportunity for you to save your firms and your jobs. Please write to me at [email protected] and let me know if you are prepared to work WITH me on creating a new trade group to represent not only indie/regional member firms but also the hundreds of thousands of registered persons in our industry who are disenfranchised within the self-regulatory system -- that's right: You have no vote on any rulemaking!
Depending upon the number of folks willing to move forward, I will consider any reasonable proposal to start a new trade group and will reconsider any reasonable proposal to bring my Dissident colleagues into the fold of any existing trade group. However, if you all can't be bothered to contact me, then I'm not going to waste any more of my time. Now or never.
Bill Singer